Sour Candy and Bubblegum
by theguardianqueen
Summary: Mina Ashido is a well-liked young girl at UA, but she's been missing something from her life for god knows how long. With the arrival of a new student, however, that may change. (Self-indulgent garbage I wrote one night when I was in a big gay mood for Mina and then realized "hey this is alright" so I continued. Lemon is planned for later ;))
1. Chapter 1: The New Hero

Sour Candy and Bubblegum

By Jenni Hagen

Chapter 1

The New Hero

The bell rang and class began. Class 1-A at UA high school were all in their seats. Some were quietly conversing, like Tooru Hagakure, asking Jiro for help on homework she hadn't started on that was due the next day, despite the homework being assigned a month ago. Some were observing the classroom, like Tenya Iida, keeping special note of Bakugo, since he hadn't done anything major in a while and that wasn't usually a good sign. And of course, there was Mineta Minoru, who was being a piece of shit and that's all there ever is to say about him.

But most importantly, there was Mina Ashido, a young girl with a rather astounding quirk and a bizarre appearance who, despite how much she may stand out to you or I, tends to go unnoticed. However, she was fine with this. She didn't need to be the most popular, or the strongest, or the one who was always starting something. She was happy with just being the happy, spunky, energetic member of her friend group. And yes, she did have quite a few friends! There was one of her best friends, Ochako Uraraka, on top of a few other girls she was planning on hanging out with over the summer, such as Asui Tsuyu and the aforementioned Hagakure. She was even considered friends to Bakugo, well, as much as Bakugo can consider someone a friend.

But despite all this, Mina felt as though she was missing something in her life. She couldn't put a finger on it, but she felt as though something was needed to make her truly feel whole. Something that could really make her feel… Wanted.

"Alright, sit down or salute or whatever, I honestly don't care, as long as you do all your academic things and do good work as a hero once you get out into the world it's fine." Aizawa had entered the room. Although maybe he was already there. He did smell like he was covered in sweat after waking up. He quickly scanned the room and made sure everyone was there. "Midoriya's here… Hagakure's here, I think… And Minoru, sadly…" Aizawa made his feelings towards the students clear.

"Alright, first order of business is a bit unusual, especially for how absurdly late into the year we are, but hey who cares. It's not like anything makes sense anymore anyways." Aizawa began applying his eye drops. He was feeling a bit sluggish this morning and wanted to at least feel something other than dread this early, so wet eyeballs would have to do.

"S-sorry I'm late!" A nervous voice came from the doorway as the door opened. The source of the voice was unseen but Mina found it somewhat… Alluring. It was feminine and, again, shy, but with a bit of masculinity and determination. She could tell that whoever was on the other side of the door was incredibly nervous, and yet also excited.

Aizawa's eyebrows raised slightly, before returning to their default position. "It's fine. Your timing is actually kind of perfect. Come on, get in here."

"U-um… Okay…" The source of the voice walked through the door, and Mina saw the cutest girl she'd ever seen. She had long, wavy brown hair that was reminiscent of statues of gods, blue eyes that were like an endless ocean of beauty, lips that looked like elegant riverbanks, and every step she took you could tell she was marching towards a better future for herself. Mina was flabbergasted, and she wasn't the only one. Uraraka thought the girl looked like a fairy tale princess, and the only words in Tsuyu's mind to describe her was "She looks nice". It's Tsuyu, did you expect a Steven King novel?

"Alright, even though I know Summer vacation is coming up pretty soon, I'm happy to introduce… UA's newest student. Please introduce yourself. We can hold a showing off of your quirk now if you want but regardless of whether or not you want to, it's gonna happen eventually."

The girl stared out into the class. She saw people unlike anyone he'd ever seen before. "H-hi… My name… Is Ava… Harris…" Even Mina could tell she was nervous, and Mina thought that mall santas were the real deal until she was 14. "I… I hope we can… be… friends…"

Aizawa put his hand on her shoulder. "Alright, that's enough. Just sit in your new desk next to…" Aizawa saw where Ava's desk was set next to. "... Yaoyorozu, why did you put Harris' desk next to Mineta?"

"Why did you put my desk next to him?" Yaoyorozu had been disgruntled about her desk placement all year and hoped it might change at some point during her time at school.

"Fair enough, but still cruel." Mineta was too far into his dreamstate of being sandwiched between two cute girls to focus on the negative comments being slung at him. "Any brave souls willing to sacrifice themselves?"

"I'll do it." Kaminari Denki stood up. "I'm pretty good at keeping the little dude in check."

"Denki, you're a braver man than I could ever be. I'll just say you got a B on the assignment for today you inevitably didn't do." As Denki danced over to his new seat, Mina realized what this meant. The new girl, the one she thought was so cute, was going to be sitting right next to her. She was absurdly excited.

Ava sat down next to Mina. "Um… Hi." Ava seemed even more nervous than before.

"Hi!" Mina cheerfully greeted her. "I'm Mina Ashido." Immediately after seeing how friendly the first student she spoke with was, Ava cracked a bit of a smile, before a look of wonderment.

"Woah… You have horns…" Ava had clearly never seen anyone quite like Mina.

"Oh, these old things? Yeah. Heh, I honestly kind of keep forgetting they're there… At least, until I have to put on a hat…"

"They're really cute…"

"Huh?" Mina definitely wasn't expecting that response.

"Alright, everybody calm down. So yeah, Ava here transferred from America." Everyone oohed and aahed in response. They'd rarely gotten to work with anyone who wasn't 100% Japanese. "Hey, hey, what did I just say? Anyways, apparently Ava is going through some personal problems back home and her school is going through money problems. We received a personal recommendation for her from one of Principal Nezu's friends in the states." People were even more surprised. Not only was she American, but she got in on a letter of recommendation?

"I'm not convinced." Everyone turned to Bakugo. He was leaning back in his chair and staring at Ava. "There's no way a meek chick like her can get into the most prestigious goddamn hero school on earth." Bakugo looked around himself. "Though, disappointment coming from here seems to be a recurring theme."

Everyone was mad at Bakugo, especially Mina. She had just made a new friend and Bakugo already puts her down? Mina looked at Ava and saw her looking down, trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes. Mina was ready to lash out at Bakugo, but Aizawa was the first one to speak up. "Bakugo, that's enough. If you want to see Harris' quirk, we'll perform a test." Ava looked surprised. She had no clue this would happen this quickly. "Iida, could you get the punch strength detector… thing out of the gym closet?"

"I would be happy to, Mr. Aizawa!", and just like that, he was gone. Off to the gym closet to get a piece of equipment.

"Alright. Harris, could you show a basic use of your quirk first?"

"O-okay…" Ava was clearly worried about messing up in front of everyone. She didn't know how she could, she just knew it would happen somehow. She stood up and just stood there for a while, sweat beading down her face, when suddenly she felt someone to her right tugging on her skirt.

It was Mina, the closest thing she had to a friend in this school, and she was giving her a look that was only reserved for when she felt an especially large amount of faith in someone. It was a look of "you can do it." Ava nodded at her and began to raise her right arm all the way up. Once the arm was all the way up, she took her left arm and began to twist her right arm counter-clockwise, slowly extending her arm until she could touch the ceiling. As soon as she touched the ceiling, she retracted her forearm and some modest clapping came from the classroom.

The light noise created by the clapping was eventually broken by one person. "That was it? You gotta be shitting me!" Bakugo was speaking up again. This time Mina was fully ready to let him have it, as she got up and…

"Mr. Aizawa! I've brought what you wanted!"

"Ah, thanks, Iida." Aizawa set up a large punching bag by the front of the classroom. To the right of the punching bag was an electronic counter, almost like a digital clock. "Alright. Ojiro, move out of Harris' way." Ojiro quickly obliged. He had no clue what was about to happen, but he didn't want to be any part of it. "Okay, Harris. Show 'em what you're made of." Ava nodded and took her right arm in her left arm. Quickly, almost like a drill removing a screw, she spun her right arm, and to everyone's surprise, it came out faster than they could see. When they looked at the counter, it was at its maximum value, 999 psi. "I swear, we need to get a new one of these… Well, Bakugo? Are you satisfied?" Bakugo was avoiding eye contact with everyone, as Ava received resounding applause.

"Agh… It does a lot of damage but it tends to hurt a bit…"

"Ava! That was amazing!" Mina was smiling at Ava and cheering her on, trying to not be too disruptive, but also trying to make Ava realize how impressed and proud she was. Ava was blushing. Not only had she wooed most of the class within a few minutes, but she had already made her first friend.

About that… When Ava looked into Mina's eyes, she didn't just see a friend. She saw someone… Who was looking for her. Someone who wanted someone like her that they could protect. Someone they could hold on to when the night gets cold. Mina wanted… Love.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2: Mina's New Friend

Chapter 2

Mina's New Friend

"Ahhh, it's so relaxing here…" Uraraka gleefully sighed under the shower.

"Oh, come on," retorted Asui, drying off "It wasn't that bad." UA had a tendency to put the students into immense physical trials to test their heroism, and while the one the students had just gone through wasn't particularly noteworthy in the amount of effort they had to exert, it certainly wasn't an exception, requiring everyone to use their quirks to their fullest potential.

"Uh… Hey, Momo… Could you… Scrub my back for me?" Jiro turned to Yaoyorozu and tried to put a hint of flirtiness into her voice to indicate some kind of romantic attraction. Yaoyorozu responded by pulling a Loofah out of herself using her quirk and handing it to Jiro. The amount of disappointment on Jiro's face was simply immeasurable. She hadn't been this disappointed since that time Mineta didn't get run over by that car.

Mina looked around herself at all the other girls showering. She thought they were all cute, of course, but she didn't find any of them attractive. That was something strange about Mina. She was interested in others' love lives and loved playing cupid herself, but she had never really experienced genuine attraction. She had a bunch of boys in grade school and middle school tell her they had crushes on her (and even another girl in middle school), but she had never felt that way for anyone else. Anyone except…

"Where's Ava?" Mina turned her head and started searching for her. "I haven't seen her since we changed clothes."

"She's over by the lockers." Asui responded, while washing her hair with some shampoo she had brought from home (Unbeknownst to many people, Asui takes great care of her hair). "I asked her why she wasn't going to the showers and she said she had something she was looking for in her locker."

Mina pouted at Asui. "Well why didn't you help her?"

"It was just something she left in her locker. I don't know how it can take her this long."

"Well I'm going to go help her!" Mina stormed off, still unclothed and wet from the shower. Asui continued to simply mind her own business and wash her hair, and Jiro was feeling too dead inside to respond to anything.

Mina walked over to Ava, who was sitting on the bench and seemed to be breathing heavily while still wearing a towel. She seemed a bit down to Mina, so she walked up behind her and pressed her chest to Ava's back. "Ava, do you need help with anything?" Mina tried to say it with as much of a non-threatening and bubbly voice as usual, but Ava still nearly jumped out of her skin in response. Once she realized it was Mina, she calmed down, but she became more nervous when she realized Mina was resting her bare chest on her.

"N-no thanks, I'm good…" Ava was shaking, clearly afraid of something. Like someone who was being kept prisoner by a ferocious beast, she could barely get the words out.

"Aw, c'mooon. Tsuyu told me you were looking for something." Mina, bless her heart, was completely oblivious to how nervous Ava was feeling. Clearly she needed to spend more time around Izuku and find out what anxiety looks like.

"I… Um… I found it…"

"Well then come on over! Take a shower, you deserve it!" Mina really just wanted Ava to be able to relax in a warm shower after performing impressive physical feats in the previous trial.

"I… I can't…"

"Aww, c'mon, why not?" Mina was somewhat beginning to realize Ava was nervous. "Are you worried that we'll look at your body? C'mon, it's nothing any of us haven't seen. We're girls!"

The muscles on Ava's back tensed up even more, as though someone was pointing a gun at her and she heard a clicking noise. "I… I don't need a shower!" She grabbed her school uniform out of her locker, slammed it shut, and put it on while running out. Mina tried to chase her out, but didn't want to get caught running around the school grounds naked. She just went back to finish showering with the girls and didn't talk until they got back to their classroom.

There were still some hours of the day left to go, and during this time Ava's uniform had sweat dripping through it and patches of distinct discoloration where the material had absorbed the sweat. Mina was worried Ava might get some sort of rash from going around the place in that. She could clearly tell that Ava should have gone to the shower, but why didn't she?

This question wouldn't stop nagging Mina, so eventually she decided to get it together and ask Ava what was going on. Once school got out for the day, she ran over to Ava, to talk with her. "Ava! Wait up!"

Ava was surprised, not only by the fact that someone actually wanted to talk to her, but also that it was Mina. Ava was worried that after the shower incident, Mina might not want to talk with her anymore, but she was happy she was wrong. "M-Mina!" she had to keep herself from crying as she was so relieved she hadn't lost her only friend.

Mina ran over to Ava. She clearly didn't just want to talk about the incident earlier in the day, she also wanted to talk about other things. What Ava was into, what kind of clothes Ava liked to wear, what kind of food she liked best. Mina just wanted to know more about Ava. Ava would always have no issue responding, and sometimes asked Mina about her hobbies too. "What I'm into? Hmm… Well, I like playing video games…" "What kind of clothes? I like… Frilly and pretty dresses… But I also like wearing more punk style skirts and things like that…" "My favorite type of food, huh? Well, that's tricky, but probably… Indian food, more because of how fun it is to cook than anything."

Finally, the mood was considerably lightened and Mina wasn't afraid to ask her question. "Hey Ava…"

"Myeah?" Ava replied, heavily cheered up from earlier.

"Can I just ask you what the whole thing in the locker room was about?" Ava's smile disappeared. A large amount of the color in her face disappeared. Ava just looked at her feet and began to take deep breaths.

"I'll let you know…" Ava said to Mina, with both fear and strength in her voice. "As long as you don't tell anybody…"

Mina immediately agreed. "Of course I'll never tell anyone! A lot of people tell me I'm a bit ditzy, but I never let out a friend's secret." She wanted to know what was going on with her new friend and how she could help her.

A small part of Ava's smile came back. "We're close to my apartment. I can tell you once we get in there. I don't want anyone I don't trust to hear."

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the apartment Ava was staying at. Ava was surprisingly independent, considering how soft she looked from the outside. She had clearly taken on several part-time jobs to be able to afford a place of this quality.

"Do you want orange juice or cola?" Ava was looking through the refrigerator, looking for something to quench the thirst of her and her new best friend.

"Juice. I honestly can't drink too much cola. It gives me hiccups." Ava handed Mina a can of orange juice. The two took sips from their drinks, and sat there until Mina eventually spoke up. "Okay, so tell me. What was the deal with the thing earlier today?"  
"You… really promise not to tell?"

"I'll never tell a soul. I just want to know what's eating at my friends."

Ava started her breathing again. "Okay… Here, I'll show you."

What Ava showed Mina shocked her on a level she wasn't expecting at all. Mina managed to handle it well, but it wasn't something she could really do anything about. Ava lifted her skirt.

And in her panties,

Mina saw a small bulge.


	3. Chapter 3: Ava's Secret

Chapter 3

Ava's Secret

Ava had always been a nervous girl. Her friends growing up were few in number, and she usually lost contact with them within a few years. She had been in a few relationships, but they were all people who had simply wanted to take advantage of her. It was for this reason that Ava felt lonely through her entire life, and always wished for some friends she could depend on. Because of this, she always knew what she wanted to be in life. A hero. A hero everyone loved. A hero that people wanted to be friends with. A hero for everyone.

Ava's family was small, and she was an only child with few cousins. Her family always expected perfection out of her, even though she was rarely ever in a mental state where she could give perfect results. This was because of something Ava herself only came to terms with during her last year of middle school. "I should have known it," she told herself, "but I was too goddamned scared to admit it to myself, and now that I know it I fucked up my entire life." Ava was transgender.

Being known as a boy for most of her life, Ava never knew what the reason for her feeling so down most of the time was, but eventually all the pieces came together through reading blogs from people coming to terms with being trans, and she realized who she was always meant to be. And who she was always scared to be. And who she was still scared to be. Ava's family was full of rather transphobic people. This included both her parents, who felt as though trans people were "Just a bunch of special snowflakes who need to shut the fuck up and quit fucking whining", in their own words. Ava managed to keep this contained for the rest of her 8th grade year, and eventually, got accepted into a fantastic hero school in the U.S. that she lived close to. Her quirk was exceptional, with the ability to rotate and extend her arms by "unscrewing" them. Ava's quirk allowed her to spin in the air by putting one hand on the ground, reach long distances, and punch with incredible force, and all with a literal 'twist'. After receiving incredible support from teachers, astounding grades in her entrance exams, and a letter accepting her into the school, Ava was excited to begin her new life as a hero in training.

Until her parents came back in to the picture. As Ava went out to hang out with one of her few friends, she forgot that she left her computer on back at home. Her computer containing chat logs with online friends. Her computer containing chat logs with online friends where they referred to her as Ava, used traditionally female pronouns, and referred to her being trans. Once she came back home, her parents were furious. They berated her, wouldn't feed her, and refused to let her go to school. Her chance at fulfilling her dream was taken from her at the last moment.

Or at least, that's what she thought. At the time, a certain teacher was at the school on business from a school in another country. Yes, of course, the teacher was named Shota Aizawa. UA would send teachers out occasionally to other top-ranking hero schools to see if they qualified for UA. Aizawa was looking through the full list of students, when he saw a name which was crossed out. Upon asking the teachers why she hadn't attended class at all that year, they told him Ava's parents said that they needed time before Ava was ready to handle high school. Aizawa found this suspicious, and after going to investigate the house, reported Ava's parents as abusive. Aizawa offered Ava two options. Move to Japan and go to UA, or stay in her home and go to her first intended high school. Ava made the choice she felt was best for herself. "Mr. Aizawa," she said, "I would like to attend UA."

Ava's reason for wanting to attend UA was simple. She wanted to put as much distance between her and her parents as she could. Once she had moved to Japan, Ava had much more opportunity to grow. She found a job working at local batting cages, used the money from that job to buy an apartment, started hormone therapy, got clothes more fitting of her gender, and of course, changed her name to Ava.

And here she found herself now. Exposing herself to a new classmate, the first friend she had ever made in her new home. She looked at Mina, who was clearly confused, and with tears of nervousness starting to form, she said the words she was too afraid to tell anyone in real life before now.

"Mina… I'm trans."

Mina looked at her new friend's face and saw the nervousness in her eyes, the tears from past experiences coming back to haunt her, her body shaking with fear that she would lose a new friend.

And she hugged her.

Mina was torn up over the fear Ava felt. The overwhelming dread that she might lose a friend. Ava was afraid of her friend thinking she was a freak. Mina cried gently as she hugged Ava, who was shocked over Mina's reaction. After Ava took her hands off her skirt and eventually wrapped her arms around Mina, she started to cry too. This was one of the first people who truly accepted her for who she was. Ava tried to thank Mina for accepting her. "Th… Thank y-", she said, before being quickly cut off by Mina tightening her hug.

"Thank you," said Mina, "thank you for telling me the truth." Mina was worried sick all day about Ava, but once Ava explained her situation, she realized what was going on. The way she avoided going into the showers, her sensitive but determined nature, the way she was so happy to find a new friend in Mina, it all made sense.

After about 2 more minutes of hugs and happily relieved crying, Mina looked Ava in the eyes, and said "Hey… You never showered, right?"

Ava blushed and quickly ran to her shower, screaming "Sorry! Sorry!" on her way there. Mina giggled. "I'm so sorry, Mina! I didn't realize I was so sweaty!", she heard Ava say from inside the closed bathroom. Ava didn't seem too nervous to talk with Mina from inside the shower, even though she was incredibly nervous earlier in the UA locker room.

Mina laughed. "Don't worry about it, Ava! It's fine!", she said, reassuringly. Mina paused for a second. "So what do you want to do?"

Ava froze up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're going to tell the other girls, right?"


End file.
